Iowa Casino Bill Levies Two-Year Moratorium on New Licenses, Would Block Cedar Rapids

A proposed IA casino projection inwards Cedar Rapids backed past Peninsula Pacific Ocean Entertainment (P2E) is facing long odds of receiving licensure from the body politic after lawmakers this calendar week quietly passed a two-year moratorium on young gaming concessions.

House File 2497 is a comprehensive gaming bundle that mostly has to doh with regulatory standards. But when Senate and House lawmakers passed the omnibus yesterday, they tossed inwards a two-year ban on young casinos. The stipulation, if the bank bill is signed past Gov. Kim Sir Joshua Reynolds (R), would mental block P2E’s Cedar Rapids ambitions.

It’s incredibly unsatisfying that this tin can materialize seemingly inwards the moody of nighttime without the city to even hold the chance to respond,” said Cedar Rapids Mayor Louis Comfort Tiffany O’Donnell. “It’s dissatisfactory well-educated the voters wanted the casino, the amount of time, money, and sweat from investors, as easily as from the governor’s appointed Racing and Gaming Commission, that something similar this tin fall out so quickly without any of us lettered around it.”

Voters in Linn County, rest home to Cedar Rapids, lastly Nov passed a local ballot referendum to take into account county officials to seek a gaming permission from the state. Linn County officials next the referendum partnered with P2E for the region’s cassino hopes.

However, industry leaders experience verbalised concerns that Iowa’s commercial-grade gaming marketplace is already oversaturated.

Casinos Oppose Sir Thomas More Casinos

Iowa’s 19 state-licensed casinos fight that a 20th commercial gaming belongings will only when further saturate the market. And those casinos, which do good the state to the melodic line of nearly $400 meg every year past path of gaming taxes and fees, hold often exercising weight inward Des Moines.

State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann (R-Wilton), who chairs the House State Government Committee, said a 24-month temporary removal on unexampled commercial-grade cassino considerations testament preserve an “equilibrium” among the current operators and protect “the nonprofits that the casinos currently expend money on.”

The legal age of the province taxation is allocated towards kindly beneficiaries through and through the Iowa Endowment Fund. Others, however, say if Linn County wants to take part inwards gaming and reap the economic benefits, it should follow allowed.

“This is unbelievably unfair,” said Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D-Cedar Rapids). “People make been navigating and working with the IA Racing and Gaming Commission, and then all of a sudden we check a moratorium soda pop up.

“We gift the powerfulness to the Gaming Commission for these licenses for a reason. It’s supposed to be fair,” she concluded.

Governor Has Critical Decision

P2E has proposed deuce gambling casino plans for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to consider.

The world-class pattern is a $165 1000000 task targeting Cedar Crossing. The gambling casino would put up 840 one-armed bandit machines, 22 table games, and a sportsbook. The 2d pitch shot is a smaller gambling casino and investment. The $105 jillion proposition includes 550 slots, 15 tabularize games, and sports betting.

P2E testament soon be level with cash after agreeing inward February to sell most of its assets to Winston S. Churchill Downs for almost $2.5 billion. The transaction remains under regulatory review.

Reynolds possesses the powerfulness to decide whether the country should allow a 20th commercial message cassino to amount to Iowa, or if a two-year stoppage on new gaming venues is warranted. So far, the regulator has non publicly verbalised an sentiment on the gaming moratorium passed past the Iowa Legislature.